The conventional manner of sealing toilet bowls to drainpipes mounted by bolting to a floor mounted flange is to insert a centrally placed wax ring seal on a central aperture of the flange and to deform it by bolting down the toilet bowl horn tightly thereinto. When the toilet bowl is rocked, however, such as by bolts loosening in ordinary use, the seal will be broken and gases will leak out. Also water from the toilet bowl can leak out onto the floor surface. The wax ring must be heated for winter installation and can melt in hot summer weather. It is not strong and will tend to "blow out" with a low pressure. Wax rings cannot be reused because they become disfigured when the toilet bowl is removed and cannot retain the sealing engagement when reinstalled.
If a toilet bowl is installed on an uneven floor, it may tend to rock when used, or to require such tightening of installation bolts that the bowl may crack. Whenever a toilet bowl rocks in a wax seal the seal may be broken and permit gas to escape.
Other problems exist in the installation process. Because a wax seal is thick, the installation bolts, generally extending through a mounting flange are not accessible easily so that bolt pressure can be used to force the toilet bowl into a firmly seated position. Also the ceramic bowl will break if excessive pressure is encountered such as a cold, hard wax seal at low temperatures. Thus, installation is tedious, costly and time consuming.
It is therefore an objective of this invention to provide improved gasket seals for mounting toilet bowls which seal better at far greater gas pressure, which make installation easier and which can be reused if the toilet bowl is removed and reinstalled.
Also, it is an objective of this invention to provide a seal that will not be broken if the toilet bowl is rocked in place.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be suggested to those skilled in the art throughout the following description, claims and drawing.